Save the Planet, Spare the People

Moderation, acceptance, open-mindedness; all these have been the themes of our discussion. Wherever our discussions have taken us these three themes reoccur. When we spoke about evolution we talked about reconciling science and religion, when we spoke about different religions we talked about accepting differences, opening our minds to new ideas, and being willing to accept the truth of different faiths. These three things seem to have been the answer to all of the conflicts of opinion we’ve run into in our discussions. Why? They’re the solution because they solve human animosity, they don’t feed it, they don’t try to repress it. Moderation, acceptance, and open-mindedness calmly and effectively neutralize human animosity.
When Francis Bacon justified tormenting the earth he was neither moderate, accepting nor open-minded. When other men said that what they wanted was more important than the earth that provided those means weren't moderate, accepting or open-minded. It’s important that people get what they need to live, but brutalizing the earth we were given stewardship over in the name of want is another thing entirely.
Moderation: as the people of this planet learn to be content with getting what they need, maybe a few luxuries, and are content with that, the waste of earth’s resources will plummet. Eating until you’re gorged, or the gallon challenge illustrate wasteful practices of the American people. We’re so used to having so much that we’ve become almost indifferent to wasting it. I’m not blameless, but I’m working on changing my ways, and I hope that as I change I can help others change too. By being moderate in thought and consumption we’ll not only be more content, but be more willing to give to our earth and others.
Acceptance: People are starving in African, as well as in America. People are starving no matter where you go, but this doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t do anything about it. In accepting something you commit yourself to taking action, or at least encouraging action. When I accept money from someone else I’m committing to using it. When people become willing to accept differences in the human race they become committed to doing something about those differences – in a constructive way. When we learn to accept each other we become able to work together.
Open-minded: When people are excessive and not willing to accept different views they become like an idea quarantine. Nothing goes in or out. While this preserves what they have, they lose more than they gain. Just as eliminating the wolves of Yellowstone caused dramatic effects in the ecosystem, getting rid of all ideas we see as not being directly beneficial cause the ecosystem of thought to degenerate. We need to keep an open-mind, a cautious open-mind, but an open mind.
As the human race learns moderation , acceptance, and to be open-minded, we’ll be able to live peaceably with one another, which will lead us to being able to live peaceably with the earth we’ve been given to live on.